Eddie Vedder on music, life & ukuleles

As Pearl Jam celebrates its 20th year, his "Ukulele Songs" explores new vistas

What results on the 16-song “Ukulele Songs” is simple, unadorned music that often makes its greatest impact in its softest moments, of which there are many. Vedder performs on an array of acoustic and electric ukuleles that sound especially well-suited to his voice.

True, he opens the album with an inspired voice-and-ukulele version of “Can’t Keep,” one of the harder-rocking gems from Pearl Jam’s 2002 album, “Riot Act.” But he concludes “Ukulele Songs” with “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” a lilting love ballad that was first recorded in 1931 and has since been covered by everyone from Nat “King” Cole to Cass Elliot of The Mamas & The Papas.

In between come a mix of lilting Vedder originals and choice cover versions that span nearly 90 years. The covers includes the country chestnut “Sleepless Nights” (a favorite of both the Everly Brothers and the late Gram Parsons), the Tin Pan Alley staple “Once in a While” and the heartfelt “Tonight You Belong To Me” (on which Cat Power’s Chan Marshall joins in on vocals).

In each instance, Vedder exudes an almost child-like joy at the act of musical discovery. The album isn’t a major artistic statement, nor does it purport to be. But it’s a charming outing that, at its best, sounds gently cathartic, suggesting that the songs could have sprang forth on their own.

“The music was writing itself,” said Vedder, who lives part of the year on the Hawaiian island of Oahu with his wife and two children. “And the lyrics allowed just whatever was under the surface to easily reveal itself, and – all of a sudden – the song was written... It’s easier to be objective and have an appreciation for it, because it doesn’t even sound like something you participated in.”

The flurry of “Pinball Wizard”-like chords that open “You’re True,” one of the best songs Vedder wrote for his new album, sound like an homage to The Who’s Pete Townshend (one of the Pearl Jam singer’s biggest artistic inspirations and a longtime friend and mentor). Is it?

“I can neither confirm nor deny that theory,” Vedder said with a hearty laugh, “at least, not at this point in the venture.”

However, he readily acknowledged, it was hearing Townshend’s ukulele playing on The Who song “Blue, Red and Grey,” from the 1975 album “The Who By Numbers” that made him aware the ukulele had untapped musical potential.

“The song resonated with me as a kid – I was probably 12 or 13 – in 1976,” said Vedder, 46, who first picked up a ukulele more than a decade ago. “That song always stuck with me, because it seemed to legitimize the (ukulele). This wasn’t a souvenir song, a tourist song, which is what the ukulele at some point mutated into. (‘Blue, red and Grey’) always stuck deeply inside me, until I actually picked up my first real ukulele, which was maybe 13 years ago. That’s when I could put my hands on it and know that that (Townshend-inspired) sound existed. And that made it feel like, no question, it was a legitimate instrument and you could write music on it.”